Pregnancy is an exciting new adventure with many unknowns. Some people work very hard to get to pregnancy, others were surprised to discover they were pregnant, while others may not be sure how they feel about their pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances, when a person goes to that first prenatal appointment – typically in the […]
I recently read a book that highlighted a character who was adopted and searching for her birth mother. She had centered her whole life, including her career, around the idea of doing everything she could to make her birth parents proud. Even though she had never met her birth parents. This character struggled with the […]
It can be overwhelming to go into a doctor’s appointment to discuss a medical concern for yourself or a loved one. Often when we are worried about our health, we can think of a million questions in the days leading up to a doctor’s appointment, but when we actually sit down with the doctor our […]
Before I became interested in genetic counseling, I honestly had no idea what it was. I was interested in genetics but had mainly taken college classes related to genetics and worked in a research lab. I thought the only healthcare provider who specialized in genetics were geneticists, who have medical degrees and then years of […]
As we discussed previously, a genetic predisposition to a disease means that a person has genetic factors that contribute to an increased risk to develop the disease but does not directly cause the disease. We reviewed several categories of types of diseases based on etiology that can genetically predispose a person to a disease. Many […]
One of the worst feelings is when you open up a bill from the hospital and look at the amount you owe. For me, it’s typically a complete surprise, and I have no idea what to expect when I’m looking at that bill. I then look at what they charged insurance and get a sinking […]
n 2018, a woman went public discussing her unusual birthmark on her abdomen. After years of questions, she had finally gained an explanation for her birthmark – chimerism. She reported that doctors were never able to explain why half of her abdomen was a different color from the other half. Most doctors just said it […]
Physicians go through quite a bit of training to be able to do their jobs. Take it from the wife of a medical resident – there is possibly no one else who fully understands what medical students and residents go through to eventually practice on their own and take care of patients. In medical school […]
Over the past few years of seeing patients virtually for genetic counseling, I have had quite a few people mention that they couldn’t find any genetic counselors near where they lived. After searching the internet, they finally found a genetic counselor in telemedicine, like our company, Advanced Tele-Genetic Counseling. I decided to search the internet […]
When I was in graduate school, I saw a patient with my supervisor that I will never forget. We walked into a patient room to see a young couple and an older woman. The patient was in his early 30s. He had been waking up for 6 months with night sweats and had been having […]